When [artist id="1241952"]Coheed and Cambria[/artist] frontman Claudio Sanchez heard his band had won MTV’s Musical March Madness
, he reacted in a way most men would when they’ve just won a (fairly) major tournament of champions: He finished cleaning the algae off his deck.

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“I was cleaning the deck of our house, getting the algae off of it, because we’re about to leave for tour, and my wife came outside, laughing, and said, ‘Oh my God, you guys won,‘ ” Sanchez told MTV News on Wednesday (April 7). “That was about it. We didn’t really have champagne or anything, but after I’m finished with this interview, I might crack a beer open and sit down to a game of ‘God of War 3.’ ”

Yes, it was a pretty raucous celebration at the Sanchez household. But all kidding aside, Sanchez said he and his bandmates were legitimately honored to win MTV’s inaugural tournament — especially because it was their rabid fanbase that led them to victory in the first place.

“Well, I don’t know what the fanbases are for the other bands, but I know our fanbase is beyond devoted. They let us do the things we do, and they definitely won us this thing,” Sanchez laughed. “I can’t say enough about them. … I mean, at first, I was only kind of following [the tournament] a little bit. My wife told me about it, and I gave it a glance. And I know some of the monitors on Cobalt and Calcium [a Coheed fan site], and they would send me a text message telling me who we were up against. For me, and for all of us, it was mostly about the fans and their dedication to our band.”

“When we beat Phish, that’s when I started to notice. I was like, ‘Wow, this is, like, kind of serious.’ And then, I wasn’t really familiar with Tokio Hotel, but our management was like, ‘They’re a big band worldwide,’ ” Sanchez said. “So then I was like, ‘It’s been a good run for us, but maybe this is where we lose out.’ Only, it wasn’t.”

And after beating Tokio in the Final Four
, they rolled over My Chem in the title game
. And at that point, Coheed’s dream run through the tournament was complete: They were the unlikeliest of champions. And now that they’ve won, Sanchez is itching to swing by MTV News’ HQ and pick up the trophy. He hasn’t quite figured out what he’ll do with it just yet, but he’s kicking around a few ideas.

“This was a battle for the fans, so I’m trying to figure out a way to share it with them. It was their victory,” he said. “I’m trying to contact the fellow that runs Cobalt and Calcium, because I might present it to him. Or maybe we’ll take it out on tour and let all the fans see it and take pictures with it. Who knows?”

What did you think of Coheed’s victory? Did you vote to make them champs? Let us know in the comments!